Hostess Brands, the now bankrupt owner of the cream-filled confections, agreed on Tuesday to sell the snacks — along with Ho Hos, Sno Balls and Dolly Madison Zingers — to two investment firms with a shared history of corporate turnarounds.

The deal, worth $410 million, was struck nearly four months after the last Twinkie rolled off the baking lines.

When Hostess, unable to reach a deal with its bakers’ union, announced in November that it would wind down operations, it set off waves of nostalgia for a symbol of American junk food. As recently as Tuesday, sellers on eBay were seeking to fetch as much as $250,000 for two boxes of Twinkies.

The sale will mean that Twinkies, born more than 83 years ago in an Illinois industrial kitchen, will live on, having survived wars, recessions and the South Beach and Dukan diets.

The new owners will be Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Company, which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles. C. Dean Metropoulos, the food industry veteran who leads the firm that bears his name, is expected to become the chief executive of the snack business.

The deal includes five Hostess factories, which the buyers hope to restart so to begin restocking shore shelves by the summer. And the new company will almost certainly feature the Hostess name.

“There’s a great consumer fan base that hasn’t declined,” Daren Metropoulos, one of Mr. Metropoulos’ sons and an executive at the family firm, said in an interview. “We saw a real opportunity to revitalize these brands, just with some T.L.C.”

That may come in the form of what the younger Mr. Metropoulos deemed “guerrilla marketing,” much as his firm has done with Pabst Blue Ribbon. Social media like Twitter are expected to play a big role going forward, he said, and comedian friends like Zach Galifianakis may be drafted as spokesmen. (Will Ferrell, for instance, has starred in commercials for Old Milwaukee beer, part of the Pabst family.)

The business’ new owners also hinted that Twinkies might find a home in a broader array of stores, including discount retailers like Dollar General. Healthier options, like 100-calorie snack packs, are also expected to make an appearance.

Yet the buyers are unlikely to rely as heavily on a unionized work force as the old Hostess did.

“We look forward to discussing opportunities for our members with new ownership, and add value to the revival of these products,” David Durkee, the president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said in a statement.

Apollo and Metropoulos emerged from what at one point seemed like a crowded field of bankruptcy bidders for the brands. At one point, more than 100 parties had expressed interest in Twinkies, a group that included international food giants and private equity firms.

But by 5 p.m. Monday, the deadline for bids, the only qualified offer came from Apollo and Metropoulos. Advisers to Hostess canceled an auction scheduled for Wednesday morning and declared the two the winner.

“It’s not that we lacked interest,” Gregory F. Rayburn, the Hostess chief executive, said in an interview. “Other bidders felt that they could not top the price.”

The new owners bring significant food industry expertise to the deal.

C. Dean Metropoulos has worked side-by-side with private equity firms on his deals in the past. He oversaw several food transactions for the Dallas private equity firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, including International Home Foods, the parent of Bumble Bee Tuna and Chef Boyardee.

Mr. Metropoulos, who has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine, made a splash in 2010, when he acquired Pabst Blue Ribbon for $250 million. Pabst — known as P.B.R. among the beer-drinking crowd — has experienced a renaissance in recent years. Mr. Metropoulous’s sons, Evan and Daren, work alongside their father at the firm, based in Greenwich, Conn.

Still, reviving Twinkies and Ring Dings could be their highest profile turnaround.

As for Apollo, the private equity firm has deep experience with food-related investments, having previously owned stakes in the grocery-store chains Ralphs and Dominick’s.

Apollo currently holds a controlling stake in Sprouts, a large natural food store chain in the Western United States that, presumably, will not be selling Hostess snacks.

The sale is not done yet. It requires the approval of the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case. A hearing has been tentatively scheduled for March 19.

Hostess is still selling its other remaining brands, including Drake’s snack cakes. Those auctions are expected to conclude by early next month.

Mr. Rayburn said that at some point, Hostess executives will celebrate by popping open a bottle of Champagne.

For his part, Daren Metropoulos said that he and his family would sample some new batches of Hostess product — “and probably crack open a cold P.B.R.”

I only have about 5 Twinkies left. I guess I'll have to make them last until the Summer.

Not sure if this is the right spot for these updates, but what the hell.

A couple of months ago I sent out some resumes for work. Got an interview at one place and didn't get a call back after that, and that's okay. I need some practice interviews since I've been in this same job for ten years, and to be honest I feel like I dodged a bullet by not getting a call back from them. I was interviewed in a round table by five women and I had to remind myself to make eye contact with all of them the entire time, as well as answer their questions the right way ("If someone walked in, what would you do?" this for a receptionist/admin job, and I was like, Uh... help them? but I think they wanted an actual play by play of what I would do). It was unnerving.

Anyway, I stopped sending out resumes for a couple of weeks but now I'm back at it. I emailed one to an engineering consulting firm today and will snail mail two others when I get home tonight. Hopefully I'll hear something, but I'm not sure how enthusiastic I feel about all of this. After this job, I feel really burnt out on office work but there doesn't seem to be anything else for which I'm qualified, and APGIL earns so little that I have to keep being the bread winner. So it looks like I'm stuck, but I'm hoping I find a place that I won't hate, and I'm hoping I find it soon.

I feel your pain. Job searching is a big pain in the ass. Especially when you have those group interviews. I couldn't believe it when Walmart put me through two interviews in a group setting. I mean really, its a Walmart store for Christ's sake, not Walmart corporate headquarters.

I felt the same after the library, been there for ten years. I was sooo sick of it, but its all I really knew. Kept trying to get it to another library, even though I dreaded the thought. Got lucky with my current job. Didn't really expect to get it, no experience in health care except for two years at a nursing home kitchen starting at 16. Think he hired me mainly for my customer service experience, spend a lot of time on the phone stroking egos and calming people down. I'm good at that. And I love learning about eyes. Never thought I'd know so much about the human eye.

Well it's been a while since I used this thread but I have some interesting news to report!Plaza Fiesta of the Carolinas has officially shut down as of yesterday!! Why am I so happy with this? because for those of you who remember, we had a satellite location of our Spanish services business located there from January-June, 2010 and we were having a lot of problems from competition accusing us of stealing their business (which we were) along with them making false accusations about us and the management believing them.After about 2 months of this BS, I contacted our Pre-Paid Legal (now Legal Shield) attorneys and they sent a couple letters to the management requesting proof of these accusations and if they could not provide proof, they were to Cease and Desist their accusations towards us!Well by June, 2010 we were ready to move out not because of the competition but because of the management and really because we didn't make any real money there-just enough to pay wages and the monthly lease.There were other business leaving when we were leaving (and continuing to leave in the years that followed) and their reason we heard was the same: the management so it just shows what kind of a professional operation they had going on there and it finally caught up with them.Good Riddance to that place!

Cabela's bought the location to demolish and will build an outdoors store there eventually.

Capital One Might Come A'Knocking On Your Office DoorCredit card company says it can show up at your work

Posted Feb 18th 2014 @ 2:15PMAssociated Press

Capital One has run a series of clever ads with the tagline, "What's in your wallet?" Now it appears the company has tried to lay the groundwork so it can ask about your Capital One account via your regular phone or cell with fake caller ID, text message, or fax "with any frequency" and even showing up unannounced at home or work, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It's a set up for aggressive collection activities that could become a potential nightmare, particularly if the process involves your work life. Not many companies would be happy to field a series of messages or visits over a personal financial matter.

The issue arose with a new credit card agreement that affects consumers who have been issued a Capital One card. Here is the communications section that explains the company says it has:

We may contact you from time to time regarding your Account. We may contact you in any manner we choose unless the law says that we cannot. For example, we may: (1) contact you by mail, telephone, email, fax, recorded message, text message, or personal visit; (2) contact you using an automated dialing or similar device ("Autodialer"); (3) contact you at your home and at your place of employment; (4) contact you on your mobile telephone; (5) contact you at any time, including weekends and holidays; (6) contact you with any frequency; (7) leave prerecorded and other messages on your answering machine/service and with others; and (8 ) identify ourselves, your relationship with us, and our purpose for contacting you even if others might hear or read it.

The section goes on to say that the company can use information they obtain from you or others to find you, that it may record conversations, and, unless prohibited by law, it can "modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose." In other words, Capital One might make you think you were picking up the phone for Joe's Pizzeria down the street.

In 2012, a federal class action lawsuit claimed that Capital One had used "illegal credit and collection practices," according to ABC News. That same year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reportedly fined Capital One $210 million for using high pressure tactics to sell consumers into add-on credit card services and for misleading them about the benefits, according to Forbes.

One reason for all the specificity in the agreement is that when it comes to debt collection and associated communications, there are some significant protections for consumers, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

For example, debt collectors are generally restricted to calling only between 8am and 9pm. The collector "may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector," which means a limit on the types of messages that could be left. If the collector "knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication," it is forbidden to try reaching the consumer at work -- and telling the collector that you are not allowed to receive collection calls at work might be enough to trigger that clause.

However, these factors only come into play if the consumer has not given prior consent or if a court has given permission. Being a card holder with Capital One would likely mean that the agreement would act as that consent.

Glad I don't have a Capitol One card..I'm sure this could lead to all sorts of lawsuits should they actually try this..

Capital One Might Come A'Knocking On Your Office DoorCredit card company says it can show up at your work

Posted Feb 18th 2014 @ 2:15PMAssociated Press

Capital One has run a series of clever ads with the tagline, "What's in your wallet?" Now it appears the company has tried to lay the groundwork so it can ask about your Capital One account via your regular phone or cell with fake caller ID, text message, or fax "with any frequency" and even showing up unannounced at home or work, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It's a set up for aggressive collection activities that could become a potential nightmare, particularly if the process involves your work life. Not many companies would be happy to field a series of messages or visits over a personal financial matter.

The issue arose with a new credit card agreement that affects consumers who have been issued a Capital One card. Here is the communications section that explains the company says it has:

We may contact you from time to time regarding your Account. We may contact you in any manner we choose unless the law says that we cannot. For example, we may: (1) contact you by mail, telephone, email, fax, recorded message, text message, or personal visit; (2) contact you using an automated dialing or similar device ("Autodialer"); (3) contact you at your home and at your place of employment; (4) contact you on your mobile telephone; (5) contact you at any time, including weekends and holidays; (6) contact you with any frequency; (7) leave prerecorded and other messages on your answering machine/service and with others; and (8 ) identify ourselves, your relationship with us, and our purpose for contacting you even if others might hear or read it.

The section goes on to say that the company can use information they obtain from you or others to find you, that it may record conversations, and, unless prohibited by law, it can "modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose." In other words, Capital One might make you think you were picking up the phone for Joe's Pizzeria down the street.

In 2012, a federal class action lawsuit claimed that Capital One had used "illegal credit and collection practices," according to ABC News. That same year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reportedly fined Capital One $210 million for using high pressure tactics to sell consumers into add-on credit card services and for misleading them about the benefits, according to Forbes.

One reason for all the specificity in the agreement is that when it comes to debt collection and associated communications, there are some significant protections for consumers, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

For example, debt collectors are generally restricted to calling only between 8am and 9pm. The collector "may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector," which means a limit on the types of messages that could be left. If the collector "knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication," it is forbidden to try reaching the consumer at work -- and telling the collector that you are not allowed to receive collection calls at work might be enough to trigger that clause.

However, these factors only come into play if the consumer has not given prior consent or if a court has given permission. Being a card holder with Capital One would likely mean that the agreement would act as that consent.

Glad I don't have a Capitol One card..I'm sure this could lead to all sorts of lawsuits should they actually try this..

I'd like to see them try to chase me down in my big yellow school bus.